New MacOS brings Siri to the desktop and a universal clipboard

Apple is renaming OS X for Mac computers to MacOS, bringing synergy to their operating systems’ nomenclature. The update will hit the MacBooks running Beta in July and the rest in September, along with iOS10 for iPhones.

The latest version of MacOS --- christened Sierra --- now has Siri, a universal clipboard, picture-in-picture, Apple Pay and optimised storage to give Windows 10 a run for its money. Windows 10 managed to catch up with OS X in terms of aesthetics and multitasking features, but with the latest update, Apple has added enough cosmetic and productive features to justify their claim of it being “the most advanced desktop OS”.

The new auto-unlock feature on MacOS detects if it’s the owner of the machine by matching the time of fight on their Apple Watch with the action of Macbook’s lid being opening to omit any need for a password input. However, since there’s no time of flight while turning an iMac, the feature is expected to be reserved for MacBooks.

However, the Universal Clipboard will make its way to all the Apple devices you own. With this useful feature, text or images copied on a Mac, iPhone or iPad, can be pasted on any of the other devices.

The MacOS is will be more efficient at managing your limited storage on the Mac with the help of Optimised Storage feature. On choosing to optimise storage, it can free up over 100 GB of space by getting rid of the files like cache, and those lying in the Recycle Bin, besides sending away the lesser used files to the iCloud Drive. Also, using iCloud, your desktop -- a place users generally use to store the files they’re working on -- will be available on other Macs and even the iPhone.

Now, Apple Pay even work on websites will be adding a button for it on their checkout option. Authentication for payment will be as simple as entering your Apple ID password or via the Touch ID on their iPhone.

For better multitasking, MacOS will let you have multiple tabs for every app, and since it’s built into the OS, even if that app doesn’t have provision for tabs. Also, picture-in-picture mode will let you pin a tiny window playing a video from the web to the screen, so you can keep watching your favourite show while working away on other apps.

The biggest addition to the MacOS however, has to be Siri. The AI assistant from iOS can now answer a chain of questions while understanding the context of the conversation. And when you get a search result on asking for something from local files or the web, you can drag and drop it in any app or pin the results to your notifications.

Motivational

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